Former Pine View teacher Jacqueline McCormick dies

She was recognized as the best educator in the Sarasota County school district.

By GABRIELLE RUSSON

Jacqueline McCormick, the former Pine View teacher who was once recognized as the best educator in the district, infused history anywhere she could.

She traveled with her family across the country to see where Abraham Lincoln was born or what the state capitol in Alaska looked like.

At school, she asked her students to interview their relatives about President John F. Kennedy's magnetism when they studied the 1960s.

“It makes history seem real in a way that's not when you're reading a textbook,” said Dan Bashara, a 2000 Pine View graduate.

Former students and colleagues remembered McCormick as a dedicated educator after the Sarasota resident died Friday at age 74 after a brief illness.

A memorial service is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Saturday at St. Michael the Archangel Catholic Church, 5394 Midnight Pass Road.

McCormick, the Sarasota County Schools' “Teacher of the Year” in 1978, was known for her deadpan humor and creative lessons.

An elementary teacher inspired McCormick to become an educator herself, said her daughter Jacqueline McCormick Jr.

Her mother, a 1961 Florida State graduate, taught at Miami-Dade County Schools until she moved to Sarasota County Schools in 1974.

McCormick taught at Pine View School from 1974-1987 and then left to become the director of the PALS volunteer program.

After a brief retirement, she returned to Pine View for several years in the 1990s and 2000s before she retired again, according to school staff.

Even after hours, McCormick did not lose her teacher demeanor.

At dinner, she pulled out paper and gave multiple quizzes to her two daughters on random trivia, such as the Kentucky Derby. Anytime “Jeopardy!” was on, you could count on the family watching it together.

“It was fun. It was never tedious. It was always about fun and passion,” her daughter said.

At school, McCormick was full of humor, a rare time that Bashara realized that his teacher was indeed a real person, he said.

“It was the way she had fun. You could see it was her real personality,” said Bashara, a graduate student at Northwestern University. “It wasn't a classroom persona. It was Mrs. McCormick.”

McCormick once asked her class a question that was simple enough: whether they had finished their homework.